Northeast city Rep. Melina Castro is threatening to sue City Attorney Charlie McNabb over what her lawyer says is her inability to get answers to questions about McNabb’s involvement in the Rita Rodriguez settlement . However, her actions are also causing some to question whether she is attempting to create the perception of ethical transgressions at City Hall.
The subject is on the executive session agenda for Tuesday’s (Nov. 29) City Council meeting.
The issue began to come into the open several council meetings ago, when Theresa Caballero, a frequent critic of the current regime at City Hall, appeared Nov. 8 before City Council to denounce the Rodriguez settlement. Caballero first appeared on the political scene during the administration of her father, former Mayor Ray Caballero, who she attacked relentlessly, and continued to attack after he was defeated for office by immediate past Mayor Joe Wardy.
THE CORRESPONDENCE TRAIL
The day after the meeting, Nov. 9, Assistant City Attorney John Batoon, by request of Mayor John Cook, sent Reps. Castro, Holguin and Lozano -- who had been together in Holguin’s office, a meeting all three said was incidental -- a letter [link] warning against meeting in numbers less than a quorum “for the purpose of secret deliberation.”
“I think the letter was like gas on a fire that was already starting up,” Cook said.
The letter provoked a series of responses. All denied collaborating on issues, such as the red light cameras vote in which the three were a minority voting against the proposal.
Castro’s response [link], in particular, was aggressive. Given the next day, it called Batoon’s letter insulting; in turn, she called the letter “insolent,” demanded a retraction, and promised further action if she was not satisfied.
She did not wait for a response, and the same day sent a longer letter [link] addressed to McNabb and copied to the mayor, council and city manager.
The letter accused McNabb of working in concert with Cook and other council members to discredit “dissenting viewpoints” and presented a list of 20 questions and demands related to McNabb’s role in the Rodriguez settlement, including many questions that had been brought up by Caballero and answered by McNabb at the Nov. 8 meeting. Among Melina’s Nov. 10 demands were a request for McNabb’s personal cell phone records, and records of any cell phone he uses whether or not it’s registered in his name.
Castro declined to speak with Newspaper Tree, directing all queries to her attorney, Travis Ketner. He says she simply is trying to get information on the Rodriguez settlement, which she now believes may have been flawed.
The next day, Cook sent an apology letter [link] to all members of council. “I want to formally apologize to those City Representatives who felt adversely affected, singled out or offended by the notification,” he wrote. In hindsight, he wrote, the letter ought to have been more general, and addressed to all members of council.
The apology by Cook did not appease Castro. On Nov. 14, her lawyer, Ketner, sent McNabb a letter [link] explaining that Castro was expecting a response to her questions to evaluate the documents leading to the recommendation to settle with Rodriguez and “to evaluate the potential for various civil claims against you personally.” He also demanded a “favorable response” to the request for documents by noon, Nov. 18.
That was followed by a flurry of letters Nov. 18: from Assistant City Attorney Elaine Hengen to Ketner [link], Ketner to Hengen [link], and McNabb to Ketner [link].
Hengen wrote to Ketner that she had located 500 pages of records, and she asked for clarification on one of the requests. Ketner responded with a brief clarification.
McNabb wrote that he did not authorize Batoon’s letter, and formally withdrew it Nov. 14. “It was not requested nor authorized by me, and I was unaware of its issuance since I was out of town,” wrote McNabb.
He declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Newspaper Tree.
Ketner replied Nov. 19 [link], Nov. 20 [link] and Nov. 22 [link]. His letters informed the city that the Open Records deadline was due to expire, and telling McNabb that he believed Section 3.8 of the City Charter gave Castro investigatory powers, including the right to subpoena McNabb.
On Nov. 23, Hengen sent letters to Castro and Ketner [link] and to the Attorney General [link]. Hengen’s letter to the attorney general disputes the assertion to subpoena powers, explains what records are available to view (870 pages worth), and what records the city is asking to be protected.
To the attorney general, Hengen wrote, “We are not unmindful that the requestor is an elected City Representative and as such, she is entitled to some records and information on that basis that members of the public cannot have, such as an entitlement to listen to the audio recordings of City Council closed (executive) session meetings.”
The records the city seeks to protect deal with Rodriguez’s personal information, such as social security numbers and taxpayer records. The city attorney’s office also seeks to protect from disclosure to Castro her request for documents regarding outside counsel’s evaluation of the Rodriguez claim and her request for documentation of communication between McNabb and anybody else in relation to Batoon’s letter.
That request to protect some information from disclosure raises questions about why it’s not being made available, Ketner said.
A RED FLAG, OR A POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY?
“She’s going down the same road as Theresa Caballero with the same accusations,” Cook said. “To me that seemed like that’s what started the deal.”
Caballero saw McNabb having lunch with Rodriguez and a group of other lawyers a month and a half after the settlement. Caballero claimed that was evidence of a deep friendship that raises suspicions of collusion; McNabb, who informed council of his friendship with Rodriguez, and was given a waiver of conflict for himself and his staff -- a waiver for which Castro voted with the rest of council -- said that he ran into Rodriguez and the rest of the lunch group at a funeral.
McNabb’s explanation was given in public at the Nov. 8 meeting, which Castro attended. Of the 20 questions she asked McNabb to respond to in her Nov. 10 letter, at least half were answered by him during the Nov. 8 meeting, or at previous meetings. Much of the other information was part of the public record and involved briefings in which she was involved.
In a Nov. 17 letter [link], city Rep. Susie Byrd questions Castro’s demands for information she already had access to, and events in which she took part.
“I am surprised by your seemingly uninformed questions and veiled innuendo. You were fully briefed on every detail of this case. You asked no questions. You did not raise any concerns. You remained absolutely silent. Your silence in light of your recent charges raise serious raises questions to me about your motives throughout this case,” wrote Byrd.
Ketner said Castro has every right to ask for information, regardless of how many times she’s been privy to meetings in which her questions were addressed.
“If there's no problem what's wrong with telling her twice? Write her a letter, give her the case file, and tell her to go away,” Ketner said.
Byrd, whose Nov. 17 letter to Castro declared the episode to be a political adventure meant “to harm a decent and ethical public servant,” said she thought Castro was being manipulated.
“I saw her the day after she wrote that letter and I was worried about her, frankly, because I’m sure that letter (from the mayor) kind of disturbed her and I could see how she felt singled out by it, but I also saw how she was being used as a political weapon in a war she doesn’t comprehend,” Byrd said. “I told her ‘I’m worried about you, you're being used as a political weapon,’ and she looked startled and gave me a big hug.”
Since then, Byrd said, the two are able to discuss council issues collegially, but on the issue of McNabb, “if you ever bring it up she says ‘I can only talk through my attorney.’”
Byrd said she wasn’t sure who was advising Castro, although she suspected Luther Jones, an El Paso political institution widely credited for helping Castro win election.
“It's a political opportunity and they took it and unfortunately for Melina she’s going to have to take responsibility for it,” Byrd said.
Mayor Cook said he suspected Jones’ involvement, but had no proof.
“I asked to meet with him and he told me he’d be busy until January,” Cook said of Jones. As to what the response did to his suspicions, Cook said, “It didn’t put them to rest, that’s for sure.”
Jones denied he was advising Castro on the issue, and declined further comment.
Ketner, who also has represented former city Rep. and current County Judge candidate Anthony Cobos, said he knows Jones but “this is completely separate.”
Ketner said he knew Castro from when she worked for County Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, and that Castro sought him out because of his representation of County Commissioner Betti Flores -- another Jones-backed candidate -- in her indictment for alleged campaign finance violations.
“She (Castro) had asked me to find out what relief she had if they did what they're doing,” Ketner said.
Ketner said, “when a good friend of the person who is making the decision says ‘you on city council need to vote for this’ … and when you look at it (Rita Rodriguez settlement) and no one in El Paso has gotten near that amount ($500,000), that to me is a red flag.”
The city’s letter to the attorney general claims the city has had three settlements of more than $500,000 since 2001, however.
Ketner also said that even if Castro was privy to some of the information she now is formally requesting, “the question of his (McNabb’s) objectivity did not come out until after this was decided. ... If you don’t know, and someone comes in and tells you the way things are … you don’t think about it until other things comes out.”
“This is extremely suspicious, period, and that's what Melina wants to know about,” Ketner said.
Regardless of whether Jones is involved, or anyone else, “it doesn’t look like anything anybody is willing to negotiate at this point,” Cook said. “What we’ve told her is you can sit down and see anything, review all the executive session tapes if you want, but that’s all you can do. We can’t release what’s come from executive session, or make public what’s come from our attorney, especially when you have people threatening a lawsuit.”
* * *
Document list:
Batoon letter to Reps. Castro, Holguin, and Lozano, Nov. 9
Castro letter to Batoon, Nov. 10
Castro letter to McNabb, Nov. 10
Cook letter to Council, Nov. 11
Ketner letter to McNabb, Nov. 14
Byrd letter to Castro, Nov. 17
Hengen letter to Ketner, Nov. 18
Ketner letter to Hengen, Nov. 18
McNabb letter to Ketner, Nov. 18
Ketner letter to McNabb, Nov. 19
Ketner letter to McNabb, Nov. 20
Ketner letter to Wilson, Nov. 22
Hengen letter to Castro and Ketner, Nov. 23
Hengen request for AG opinion, Nov. 23
* * *
